The CIU  War On Monius
by Speedlion
Summary: Sonic and friends discover a whole new planet with beings looking very much like Mobians themself. After Dr. Eggman hears of this, he invades this new planet and now, Sonic and his friends have to fight in a war to free the planet! ArchieVerse
1. The Story Begins

BENG! The stone wall was shaking on its foundations. Dust particles that had laid there for a very long time, maybe even centuries long already, flew up and formed a dust cloud. BENG! Again, the wall trembled and a few small stones got loose from the wall, fell to the groud and then bounched away in different directions. BENG! The wall now didn't just tremble, but cracked. The left side showed serious cracks that ran almost to the other side of the wall... A few big stones fell to the ground and fell apart when hitting the ground. BENG! The center of the crack suddenly got slammed into a million pieces... Finally, the sunshine reached this place since centuries ago. A bright column of light reached the inside of what was still unknown. Soon, the sunshine got blocked again and a head appeared before the small opening that was as big as a football.

"One more hit should do it, I think," a voice said, probably from the being that blocked the sunshine. He moved his head away from the opening. BENG! The person had been right. The whole wall fell apart on the ground in pieces under loud noise and the sunshine now totally lit the room. It also lit four persons who were standing before the broken wall. Only silhouettes could be distinguished from the background.

"Ha... piece o' cake!" one of them said... he looked a lot like an echidna, with his dreadlocks-like spikes falling down behind his back. His hands showed two spikes where two of his knuckles would be situated.

"Come on. Let's go. We have no time to waste," said another, resembling a hedgehog. On both sides of his head, two spikes went up, while a fifth spike situated on top of his head seemed to point down, although this couldn't be said with complete certainty.

"Zim... gimme the flashlight," the hedgehog commanded.

One of the other silhouettes, resembling a hedgehog with three short quills going down, grabbed in the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a thing that probably was the desired flashlight.

"Catch," the hedgehog said and threw the flashlight at the other hedgehog, who caught it without effort. A second later, the flashlight was turned on and the hedgehog shone into the room. The hedgehog mumbled something, maybe to remember himself to something, maybe because something came to his thoughts... we'll never know. He walked inside the room and shone around with the flashlight. It was as empty as a room could be, not counting the numerous stones from the wall that had fallen inside the room when it broke. The light danced around the room for a few seconds before stopping at the left corner. The hedgehog growled under his breath and walked at the corner, while he kept his flashlight pointed at that place. When he arrived at the corner, he looked down attentively. He stooped and searched for something in the corner with his flashlight, while he moved his other hand over the ground. Two seconds later, he seemed to have found what he searched for, as he suddenly stopped moving his hand over the ground.

"Found something, Shadow?" the fourth silhouette, resembling a cow with long hair, asked.

Shadow pushed his hand to the ground. CLICK! In the other corner of the room, a part of the wall moved forward and created a gap. The hedgehog called Shadow moved his flashlight at the gap, while the others stared at what was happening. Slowly Shadow walked at the gap, flashlight pointed at it.

"Come on, guys..." the cow said to the other two. She stepped in the room and walked at the gap. The echidna and the hedgehog looked at each other for two seconds and then followed her.

"Everything going as planned, Shadow?" the cow asked.

Shadow gave a slight nod as sign of affirmation, grabbed the piece of wall that had moved from its place and pulled. Slowly the piece of wall moved backwards, which made the gap widen bit by bit, until it was wide enough for a Mobian to go through.

"This used to go automatically," Shadow mumbled, rather to himself then to the ones he accompanied, while sticking the flashlight in the gap to enlighten the room that laid behind the secret entrance. In fact, it wasn't a room... it was a hallway.

"Follow me," Shadow said, before stepping through the gap, in the hallway, flashlight pointed forward, to enlighten their way. His steps made little echoes, as did the steps of the three others that were with him. Again Shadow searched with the flashlight in the hallway, as they proceeded through it. At a certain point, about 2 minutes after they first entered the hallway, Shadow stopped moving the flashlight around the hallway and let the light rest at a steel door. When they reached the door, Shadow tried to open the door and grabbed the doorknob. He pulled, but the door didn't give an inch.

"I know the perfect way to handle this door," the echidna said, stepping forward. A hand grabbed him at the shoulder and he looked over his shoulder where he saw that the cow was responsible for grabbing the body part.

"We don't need power here, Ferdiky," she said, stepping forwards herself and pulling something out of her pocket. This soon proved to be a skeleton-key, which she sticked into the keyhole. Within seconds, she'd picked the lock.

"Here ya go," she said, before opening the door.

Shadow walked through the door, followed by the other hedgehog.

"Show-off," Ferdiky said when he walked past her, through the door.

"Heh, look who's talking," she said, before walking through the door and shutting it. While moving the flashlight around, Shadow revealed this room was quite big and filled with all kinds of electronics and computers. After moving it for a minute or so around the high-tech room, Shadow stopped at a big panel. Above it was a big, black screen.

"There it is," Shadow said. He slowly walked at the screen. Arriving, he looked at the panel for a few seconds. Shadow turned around and looked at his three comrades who followed him to the panel.

"Zimok... hold this while I get the right data files."

With that, Shadow threw the flashlight at the other hedgehog, who was probably named Zimok. Zimok caught it easily and stepped forward, enlightening the panel. Shadow began typing on the panel, that had numerous buttons. First, the screen was turned on. The light of the screen made the flashlight unneeded... nonetheless, Zimok kept shining on the panel, while Shadow typed on the panel. Shadow progressed fast and soon, he'd found the right data files.

"Finally..." Shadow said, following a deep sigh. He pressed a button and a window appeared on the screen. Shadow pressed yet another button and turned around.

"This," Shadow began, "Is the LvdP25061994, abbreviated LP, a revolutionary device. It can look through the eyes of people from long ago... it analyses their thoughts, goes through the minds of the people that had a look at the situation you wanna see and creates a 3D-image of that situation, like a movie. Only, this time, it is like you are in the movie itself. It also stops time while you watch it, so you can watch thousands and thousands years of history, without spilling a second of your time. With this, you will finally find your answers... without me, narrating everything. Last thing I told you was when Sonic and Bunnie came back from the mission from the Great Desert... actually, it is here, where things start to get different. The LP follows my mind and my orders, so you see what I find important... don't go whining if you wanted to see a particular part."

He turned around and pressed the button again. Immediately, the LP began to work and created the beginning of the story.

"King Senotsil!" a voice yelled through the enormous spacecraft. The sound echoed against the metal walls of the ship and finally the sounds waves reached the ears of the addressed person, a squirrel or chipmunk, since he didn't have the long tail squirrels tend to have, which sat behind his desk, writing in a book that looked like a diary. He looked up and saw a hedgehog standing in the doorway.

"What is it, Hyvus?" the king asked.

"A planet..."

"I know there are planets... many of them," the king said, interrupting the hedgehog, he called Hyvus.

"Yeah, I know, Sir... but on this case, our equipment showed us there's life on this planet." An adventurous tone could be heard in his voice as he spoke those words. And those words got the king's attention.

"What did you say, Hyvus? Life?"

"That's exactly right, Sir. And it seems the lifeforms on this planet look exactly like us."

If the previous news didn't already astonish the king, it was this that did it. The pen in the king's hand fell out of the body part and made a 'tock' when landing on the wooden desk.

"How's that possible?" The king asked, more to himself then to Hyvus. "There has to be an explanation for that... are you sure about the results?"

'They double-checked everything, Sir... they didn't believe the instruments at first too... so did I... but it's really true... and what's even more amazing is that the climate and vegetation looks a lot like ours, on Monius."

"That's impossible... your instruments must have some sort of error... no climate is exactly the same as Monius' climate."

"I didn't say it's exactly the same, Sir... but it has a great resemblance to our climate." Hyvus stopped for a moment, considering what he was going to say next.

"Shall we... shall we land, Sir?" he asked, trying not to sound too demanding and begging. Senotsil considered if that was the good thing to do... Hyvus hoped so. He so wanted this... it could be the break-through in his career... Hyvus, the first one to set foot on a planet with living beings, other then theirs... that's what he had become astronaut for, isn't it... he'd studied astronomy, before going in service of the king... and when the king, who was really adventurous, decided he wanted to make a space-trip, he grabbed his chance and proposed to go along... he was allowed... and now he had the chance to become famous...

"Get Sheela, Speed, Jason and Sage, will you, Hyvus."

"Yes, Sir! Right away, Sir!" he said, turning around and walking out of the room.

"This planet is really almost identical to ours and if I wouldn't know better, I'd think this **is** Monius," Hyvus said, stepping out of the spaceship. Before him a great forest was situated and stretched out as far as he could see. His soles gave a metallic sound when he walked down the three steps of the steel stairs of the spaceship and set foot the planet... with this move, he was the first Monian to set foot on another inhabited planet then Monius. He thought he'd go into history now... how could he know, he'd be forgotten soon... no-one would know him after a few years... maybe he'll be mentioned in some documentary about how it all started... but that's all... his fame would be minor. Hyvus got lost in thought when he stood with both feet on the ground, staring at the gray clouds that gently floated in the air, moving on the rhythm of the wind.

"Hyv... can you move on... we wanna go out of this spaceship too, if you don't mind," a panther said impatiently.

"Eh... sorry, Sage," Hyvus said, stepping aside, so Sage could step out of the spaceship too. Hyvus grinned at Sage sheepishly. Sage ignored him, looked around for some time and then turned to Hyvus again.

"What you just said, a minute ago... how long have you been thinking of that sentence?"

"How... what do you mean... it just popped into my mind."

"Suuuuuure... I know you better, mister I-wanna-be-famous."

Hyvus growled, outmatched by Sages statement... and Sage was completely right... after telling the rest that they were going to land, he went to his room to come up with an original sentence that would look good in the history books... Yes, my dear readers, Hyvus is a weirdo...

"Yer arguin' again, aren't cha? For once, stop it, will ya. It totally ruins the sphere..." an orange fox began.

"Not my fault," Hyvus interrupted. "He began."

"Don't be so childish, Hyv."

The orange fox facepalmed. He stepped aside for a lynx and an arctic fox.

"Isn't the king coming?" Hyvus asked.

The lynx looked at Hyvus, like Hyvus' nose had moved in his ear and said:

"Dude... you sure can ask stupid questions, but this the top, the king of silly questions. OF COURSE NOT!"

"Don't yell, Sheela," a voice said behind her. 'I'm coming with you all.'

They all turned around and looked at the king, standing in the opening...'

"But-but, Sir... it's far too dangerous. You'll get lost... or we get caught by the aliens here..."

"I can defend myself... and I won't let my life lack the fun I could have, just because I'm a king... I'm a Monian, just like you."

That was a solid and very good argument and Sheela couldn't find an answer that fast. Hyvus looked at Sheela in a "you-see-I-was-right" way, which irritated Sheela thoroughly. The king didn't pay much attention to the silent death-glares all around him and walked on... the others, who saw the king leaving, followed him quickly, not wanting to lose the king... They could get lost... or worse... the king could get lost... however... the king wouldn't get in panic after getting lost... he was a very adventurous king and the laser-gun, usually situated in his holster, was a deadly weapon when in his hands. They had witnessed his skills to much to deny it.

Their plan was to just walk and see what they'd encounter... but after walking half an hour they didn't see anything but trees, trees and trees...

"Say, Jason," Sheela said to the white fox," You really sure there are lifeforms on this planet... I have seen not even one!"

"The scan gave us a 99,9% chance that there were lifeforms on this planet."

"Let's hope we don't have that 0,1%, then," Sheela said, kicking a little stone that gave a 'pok' when hitting the treebark, before bouncing away and disappearing between the fallen leaves on the ground.

"Hey! Look at that!" Jason suddenly yelled, pointing at a faint light in the distance. Everyone looked at what Jason was pointing at.

"Finally! The world where decent people live... I've seen enough trees already..." the orange fox said.

"How do you know it's made by living beings?"

"What's it made by then, idiot... Christmas trees, decorated by the grass... c'mon!"

"Well..." Hyvus began.

"Spare yerself some words, dude," Speed said.

"Let's proceed and not talk," the king said wisely.

The two stopped arguing and said at the same time:

"Uh... Yessir!"

The king walked on moving towards the faint light, still careful, not knowing what to expect. When they finally reached the edge of the forest, they stood in awe for what they saw... a complete city... in the middle of the woods...

"Whoa... talk about unexpected appearances," Sage said, looking at the huge city.

'What would the name be of the city?' Hyvus asked.

Speed facepalmed.

"How do you expect us to know!" Speed said matter-of-factly.

"I was just..."

"...wondering? Yeah... you do that a lot... let me give you a very useful tip... try to wonder in your head next time... that's where normal Monians use their brain for, if you have them at all..."

Hyvus was surprised by Speeds reaction... the others, except for the king, who seemed to never hear this kinda conversations anyways, were laughing silently about Speeds reaction. Speed only looked with an angry face... he didn't mean to hurt Hyvus, but he couldn't stand it anymore... Hyvus was taken back by Speeds comment, but shrugged after a few seconds and didn't wanna think about it.

"Who're you?" a voice suddenly came from behind. They all froze in place... and then they all turned around at the same time, as if they were robots... They now looked at a coyote and a rabbit... with two robotic legs and a robotic arm.

"What're ya doin' here... spyin' on the city?" the rabbit demanded. No-one knew how to react to this...

The king cleared his throath and said:

"I'm King Senotsil Squil, ruler of a big country, called Squilinor, on the planet Monius. We landed here a few minutes ago and decided to examine this planet..."

"And what're their names?"

"Why don't you let them introduce themselves."

"Speed the Fox," Speed said.

"Hyvus Haradius," Hyvus said.

"Jason the Fox," Jason said.

"Sheela Flower," Sheela said.

"Sage the Jaguar," Sage said.

They all got silent for about three seconds... the king cleared his throat again, something he seemed to do every time, and said:

"It would be nice and polite if you would provide us your names too."

"Antoine d'Coolette," the coyote said. "And thees ees my wife Bunnie d'Coolette."

Again, it became silent... no-one knew a way to get this conversation going... Bunnie finally started the conversation again.

"Eh... since you were gazing and staring at the city, maybe you would want to see it from the inside."

"That would be very nice," the king answered happily. "Who's the king of this country?"

Bunnie began to walk towards the city, while answering Squils answer.

"Well... this city is the capital city of the Republic of Acorn. It exists of nanites, tiny machines that can't be seen with the naked eye. It's actually the only city of the Republic of Acorn... which is ruled by Elias Acorn at the moment."

"Could I meet him?"

"I think so...'

"It'd be very nice."

"It's a very nice city," Speed said. "Unbelievable this is all made of those eh... what's it called?"

"Nanites."

"Ah, yeah... nanites. Thank you."

"There's the castle... see?"

"I see... it looks beautiful," Sage said.

Bunnie and Antoine lead the rest to the gate... which immediately opened.

"Do they let in everyone like this... aren't there any guards?" Jason said, surprised by the naiveness.

"There're guards... they just can't be seen... an' we know the king personally... very good," Bunnie explained.

"Oh... that explains."

Elias Acorn sat behind his desk, staring at the screen of his computer... mouse in his left hand, the other hand situated above the keyboard, ready to type. He studied the report of the last meeting from Castle Acorn. He scrolled down with the mouse. Aside from the sighs that sometimes escaped Elias' mouth, it was completely silent in the room... which had far to much furniture. A gray pouffe was located next to his desk. A few bookcases stood against the wall... in the middle of the room was a pretty big table, probably for meetings. There has been said more then once, that he had to much furniture, but he liked it this way.

Elias bowed to the screen, as if he wanted to make sure he was reading the sentence right...

"Crap," he mumbled. As if that was a sign, a knock was heard on the door... Elias looked up from the computer screen and moved his eyesight to the door.

"Yeah," he said, as a sign that the who knocked could come in. The door opened slowly and a brown fox stepped two steps in Elias' room.

"Sir, you have visitors."

"Don't you know I never allow visitors at this time?"

"Well... Y'see, Sir. It's kinda urgent. And very special."

"What's his name? Or is it a her?"

"His name is Senotsil Squil, your Highness."

That made him sit right up.

"Squil? I've never heard that surname... at least, it doesn't sound familiar with me. Does he live in New Mobotropolis?"

The guard shook his head.

"It's a strange story, Sir... shall I let them in?"

"Yes... this made me curious."

The guard slightly nodded and left the room. Elias looked back at the computer screen for five full seconds, closed the report and turned the computer off.

"I wasn't interested in that report anyways," he mumbled.

He patiently awaited the unexpected visitors. Not much later, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Elias said.

The door opened slowly. The first two to step in were Antoine and Bunnie. They were followed by Senotsil, Speed, Jason, Sheela, Sage and Hyvus.

"King Elias... we 'ave quite a special guest for you," Antoine announced. He stepped aside to give Senotsil room. Aforementioned person stepped forward and stretched out his hand.

"King Senotsil Squil, ruler of the Squilinor Kingdom on planet Monius," Senotsil introduced himself. Elias was quite amazed by these words.

"_A king? From another planet?"_ he thought, while he stretched out his hand, shook Senotsil's and introduced himself.

"King Elias Acorn, ruler of the Republic of Acorn."

After shaking Senotsil's hand, Elias gestured that Senotsil could sit down. Elias turned to one of the two guards that always guarded his door and said:

"Could you please bring in another 7 chairs, so they can sit to?"

"Yessir!" the guard said, walking away to complete his task.

Elias sat down.

"I have to say," Senotsil said," I'm quite impressed when I first saw the city. How did you build all this?"

"Well... that's a really long story..."

"I love stories," Senotsil said a little too enthousiast.

With help from Antoine and Bunnie, the three Mobians gave Senotsil a short history lesson.

"Interesting... an amazing of those freedom fighters. I'd like to meet them personally... is that possible?"

"That is, indeed, possible. You have already met two... I'm sure you can meet the local Freedom Fighters too. But not today. It's already to late. You'll stay here in the palace until you decide to leave, with your agreement."

"That's fine with me."

Four days later, the spacecraft left Mobius... But it wasn't the last time Monius and Mobius interacted. An alliance was soon formed between the Squilinor Kingdom and the Republic of Acorn. However, these interactions hadn't gone undetected... by Dr. Eggman!


	2. Discussions In A Desert

It was quite early... around 7 o'clock in the morning... The majority of New Mobotropolis was still sleeping in their soft, warm beds, dreaming about unicorns and Belgian chocolate or whatever a Mobian desired. Some people had already awakened and were going to their work, if they weren't behind a desk already. We zoom in on one person in particular... Not like most Mobians at this hour, this Mobian, a fox to be precisely, was running. When passing, other Mobians sleepily wondered how the heck it was possible that someone could run at this hour. But the fox didn't care one bit about the thoughts of the few Mobians he passed. All he cared about at the moment was bringing his message to the right recipient. And that recipient happened to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Then, of course, guessing who the fox was, was rather simple... this was Sonic's lifelong sidekick Miles Prower, better known by his nickname Tails. Tails sighed in relief as Sonic's house got in sight. A few meters before the door, he slowed down. He bent forward while leaning with his hands on his knees, loudly gasping.

"I gotta work on my condition," Tails said to himself, between two gasps, "I fly to much."

After ten seconds, he got right up again and walked at the wooden door before him. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to open the door. After a minute, he heard some noise coming from inside the house. Not much later, the door swung open and a female hedgehog appeared in the door opening.

"Ah, Tails... what brings you here?"

"I have an urgent message for Sonic, Mrs. Hedgehog."

"Come in," Sonic's mother, Bernadette, said, stepping aside to let Tails in, "I'll wake him up."

Tails stepped through the door and sat down, while Bernadette closed the door and sleepily walked to a door, that obviously lead to the bedrooms. He heard Bernadette knocking on Sonic's door and then some talking. Bernadette came walking back.

"He'll be ready in a minute," she ensured Tails.

"Make that a second," Sonic said, walking into the living room. He turned to Tails.

"What's up, bud."

Sonic walked at a chair and sat down. Meanwhile, Bernadette was preparing breakfast for the two... if one of Sonic's friends appeared this early at the door, it meant he had another unexpected mission.

"We just got an urgent message from Monius."

"Y'mean... that planet from those... Mobian-like aliens, right?"

"Exactly... seems a certain fat Overlander is attacking Moniopolis, the capital city of Squilinor... three guesses who's responsible."

"Robotnik," Sonic said, looking up at the ceiling with an expression of disgust, as if he couldn't help but express his feelings when calling the name "Robotnik".

Tails nodded.

"Throughout whole Monius, SWATbots and Dark Legionairs have been spotted roboticizing people. The army of Squilinor is busy taking back Moniopolis. They operate from a base not far from Moniopolis lying in a desert... It's constant war in Moniopolis."

"And they have asked us for help, I assume."

"Yes, and since we have an official alliance, we don't have the possibility to say 'no'. And we're not the only ones... The United Federation is also part of the alliance and are due to helping too. I came here, to get you to Freedom HQ. We'll get further instructions there... the Council is now attending a meeting and..." Tails looked at the clock. "In fact, they might even be ready now."

"Sweet... let's go," Sonic said, standing up from his chair.

"Ho, ho... not so fast... First, breakfast," Bernadette said, while putting down two dishes in front of the two friends. On both dishes were a few pancakes."

"Have a nice meal!" she said smiling, while looking at the two hungry friends.

"Mmm, thanks mom," Sonic said, beginning at his first.

After having consumed the few pancakes, with much delight, they left Sonic's home, with satisfied tummies. Sonic's parents stared at them as they walked away, talking.

Bernadette sighed.

"All those heroics, discussions and missions."

Jules laid his metal hand on her shoulder. She looked at Jules at the corner of her eye, while smiling.

"They're growing up," Jules said, answering Bernadette.

Bernadette turned to Jules.  
>"I know," she said smiling," let's have breakfast too... I'm hungry."<p>

"You say it, hun."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails had arrived at Freedom HQ. Opening the door, he immediately got the first negative comment of the day.<p>

"You're late, Sonic," Sally said, turning her head to Tails and Sonic.

Sonic shrugged and walked to a bench and sat down next to Antoine. Tails walked at a wooden chair and also sat down, which caused the chair to make squeaking sounds...

"So... has the Council finished yet?" Tails asked, bending forward, leaning with his hands on his knees.

Sally nodded.

"Yes... they have. We are going to Monius, as will a big part of the Mes Braves Batallion. The United Federations have also confirmed they will be sending troops to Monius. We're also going there. Hamlin has proposed to ask other nations for help... and we have been assigned to bring word and convince them to help us," Sally explained. Sonic looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked:

"And what nations are we talking about then?"

"Well... since this is big, we have quite some. First and foremost, we will ask the Chaotix, Downunda Freedom Fighters and Arctic Freedom Fighters to help us. They also wanna give it a go with the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters. The Kingdom of Mercia, the Dragon Kingdom and the Dingo Regime are also on the list, although we're not sure if the last will cooperate... Further on, the Mysterious Cat Country and the Wolf Pack Nation will also be asked for help..."

"Whoa... that's quite a lot," Sonic said. "When're we starting?"

"As soon as everyone knew the plan..."

"Okay then... let's do it to it."

* * *

><p>"I still think we shouldn't have invited those guys to come along, y'know," Bunnie d'Coolette said, when they stood on a plateau in the Great Desert. From there, you had a clear view on Sand-Blaster City. The shield over the city reflected the bright sun. A slight breeze blew some sand in their faces.<p>

"The Council made their decision, Bunnie. We have to," Sally said in response. They walked on.

"I wonder why they still have the dome-shield over the city... The Dark Egg Legion has retreated everywhere on the planet... Also here... Why would they still need a shield?" Sonic said, noticing the useless presence of the dome shield.

"Dunno... their choice," Sally said, not interested in the question.

"But if the dome shield's on, we can't get in."

"I know... we'll see when we're there," Sally responded, putting an end to the conversation.

They reached the city ten minutes later.

"Finally... I thought we'd nevair get 'ere," Antoine said.

"Tired, 'Twan?" Sonic said, glancing at Antoine... you could clearly see he was starting to get tired... not that that's weird... walking through sand in temperatures around 35 degrees and higher is not a nice experience. Antoine straightened up at Sonic's words and put on a face that almost exploded of innocence.

"Who? Moi? Non, not at all... it's just a little 'ot 'ere," Antoine said in his typical French accent. He wiped the sweat of his forehead, while Sonic turned a way from Antoine, smiling and slightly shaking his head over Antoine.

"Look, I see someone coming there," said Amy, drawing the attention to what was happening behind the dome-shield. A brown wolf slowly walked at them. When he was about 30 meters away from the group of Freedom Fighters, he stopped and his face changed to a shocked expression. Two seconds later, he continued walking at them, but with a suspicious glance on his face.

"What are you doing here?" the wolf, Shift, said, distrusting the group. Sally stepped forward, implying she was the one to be spoken at, and said:  
>"We have come here to talk to Jack."<p>

"Sorry, lady... the boss doesn't like you and so do we. Turn around and go back," Shift said gruffly. Shift turned around.  
>"We're here for pure business and urgent matters. There's no "going back", cause we ain't going back before we talked to Jack."<p>

Shift turned his head.

"I said you are not wanted... You can stand here till you melt away, but we will not open the dome-shield for you."

Without Shift noticing, Sonic curled up in a Sonic Spin, pierced through the sandy ground and went underground. Not a second later, Sonic came up again just in front of Shift, who was startled and flinched. Sonic grabbed and seized him at his collar and lifted him until he was face to face with the wolf.

"Now, listen carefully, dummy. You open that shield and let us in, or I go to Jack personally and beat you guys up. First choice seems better to me, but if you insist I wouldn't mind doing the second one," Sonic said threatening, frightening Shift.

"I-I... I'll go and get the boss for you!"

Sonic lifted him a little more and then threw him backwards, against the dome shield.

"You'd better," Sonic said angrily. Shift stood up hastily and ran away, not looking back once. After disappearing around a corner, Sonic got a smile on his face, which got bigger and bigger until he started laughing out loud, followed by the others. Jack sure didn't take much time to come to Sonic. He appeared around the corner, Shift had disappeared. He was now followed by the rest of the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters, each of them holding a gun. Sonic despised this... you should only use guns as a last resort and maybe even then, you shouldn't use them... it ruins the fight and it can be used as a weapon to kill innocent people too... But Sonic didn't have the authorities to forbid them to use guns... Anyways, Jack Rabbit walked at Sonic with a withering look on his face...

"I can't remember I sent you an invitation," he said, when he stood two meters before Sonic. You could clearly hear he wasn't glad to see Sonic and his friends.

"We kindly ask to turn off the dome shield so we can enter this city," Sally said from behind the dome shield. "We are only here to discuss business... no fighting, just talking."  
>"And why should I trust you. Your blue friend here," Jack pointed with his thumb at Sonic," has bothered us more then once."<p>

"Let's not discuss history," Sally said. "If we would have been here to fight, Sonic would've attacked you long by now."

"Hmph... Tex, get some chairs here. And turn off he dome shield for a few seconds too."

Tex nodded and walked away...

"Boss? Why the chairs?" Jolt asked.

"I don't trust those guys one bit... we'll discuss business here... it's not that the weather is that bad. I wouldn't care if they dropped dead from the heat."

The last sentence was said purposely louder, so the Freedom Fighters could clearly hear him saying that.

"Well... the compliments are fly around here," Sonic said sarcastically, death-glaring at Jack from the corner of his eye. Jack chuckled at Sonic's words.

"You noticed... how smart."

Just then, the dome shield got turned off... As fast as they could, they stepped in the city. Two seconds later, the dome shield got activated again. The Freedom Fighters were now practically trapped inside the city. And it was not surprising that this didn't give Sally a good feeling. A few minutes later, which were spent with staring to the ground, the city and the air, Tex arrived with a set of chairs. It was impressive to see how Tex carried all those chairs without the slightest signs of effort or fatigue. He put them on the sandy ground and sat down on one of them. The rest followed him and one by one, they sat down. When Tails set down, the chair heavily creaked and a second later, the legs of the chair broke and Tails fell uncomfortably on the ground. He yelped when he hit the ground. Jack slightly laughed when seeing this.

"It seems Tex has picked a wrong chair by accident," Jack said smiling, glancing at Tex, who had enjoyed it as much as the rest of the Sand-Blast Freedom Fighters had. Tails stood up death-glaring at both Tex and Jack.

"By accident, huh? How coincidentally."

Jack chuckled.

"There is a rock."

He pointed at a rock, the size of a camera.

"Very funny," Tails said, sitting on the ground.

"Now, can we begin?"

"Of course, your Highness," Jack said, making elegant gestures towards towards Sally as a sign to proceed. Of course, these gestures, were, just like his words, meant to scoff with her authority. Sally ignored this and started speaking.

"As said earlier, we are here for very urgent matters. It seems that Dr. Eggman has attacked Monius, a planet in space. A year ago, their people first made contact with ours and since then, we have made an alliance. We are obliged to help them in times of need. This is such a time of need."

"A pity we are not under your authority and thus, we have nothing to care about. It's your problem, not ours," Jack stated.

"Not if Dr. Robotnik manages to take the planet and attacks Mobius... he'll have a whole planet for himself, instead of a mere base... he'd be unstoppable!"

Jack stayed silent.

"And think 'bout it," Bunnie said," You'll be one o' da heroes that'll be praised after we win that war... you'll be noted in da history books."

"She has a point there, boss," Jolt said.

"Shut up," Jack said to the roadrunner. He pondered the offer. On the one hand, he'd be forced to work together with Sonic and his friends. On the other hand, he'd be a hero and praised... and there wasn't anything that surpasses praise from other people for Jack. After a minute, he looked at Sally and said:  
>"We accept the offer. But under one condition... you'll have to drop all the charges you have against us."<p>

The Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters had kidnapped Bunnie once and taken Sonic's freedom when he visited their city. Further on, they weren't easy on the population of their city. They were mistreated. Nonetheless, Sally decided to drop all charges against the Sand-Blaster Freedom Fighters.

"Offer accepted. Hereby, all the charges against you and your mates are dropped. I have one question, though. Will you be the only ones to fight, or will you rally a little "army" of citizens?"

"We could try the latter," Jack replied. He was silent for three seconds and then opened his mouth again.

"When will we depart?"

"Over an estimated two weeks, maybe longer. Is that enough time?"

"More then... You'll hear from us, Princess."

Jack grabbed in his pocket and brought out a little device, with a few buttons on it. He pressed one of them and the dome shield deactivated.

"Have a good day," Jack said. If he meant it, Sally didn't know... he sounded like he did.


	3. A Mayor, A Mother, A Child, A Clerk

"I think it's somewhere around here," Sonic said looking over the snow landscape. He and the other Knothole Freedom Fighters had traveled on to the Northern Tundra, where the Arctic Freedom Fighters were stationed. They stood on a hill of snow. It didn't snow and the sun shone in the sky at its highest point. A few clouds flew slowly in the air to an unknown destiny, only the wind could decide.

"Hey, look," Sonic said suddenly. He stretched his arm and pointed east from the group. There, two Mobians were seen running towards them. The Knothole Freedom Fighters kept waiting in the cold, while the Mobians closed in on them.

"Wait... I theenk it ees Gunteever and Flip," Antoine said.

Sonic looked at the two Mobians and saw that they highly resembled Guntiver, leader of the Arctic Freedom Fighters, and Flip, a member of the aforementioned group. Sonic began waving at them and Guntiver waved back. When they were about 15 meters away, the Knothole Freedom Fighters walked at the two Arctic Freedom Fighters.

"Look who we have here," Guntiver said. "Sonic the Hedgehog and the Freedom Fighters."

He smiled when he noticed Bunnie and Amy, whom both haven't seen and met the Arctic Freedom Fighters yet. He stretched his arm out to Amy and then to Bunnie and introduced himself. Flip did the same.

"Well... what is the reason of your trip to the Northern Tundra, guys?"

"You'll hear," Sally said. "I have a question."

"Go ahead," Guntiver replied to that fact.

"How did you find us that fast?" Sally said. It would otherwise be very coincidental that from all the places on the Northern Tundra, Guntiver and Flip had decided to walk here.

"Oh, simple. We have a radar."

"Oh, yeah... obvious. Anyways, we came for you guys to ask you a favor."

"A favor... well, well... Let's first go to Arctic HQ. I assume you wanna speak to the whole team," Guntiver proposed.

"That was the plan," Sally said.

"Follow me."

Guntiver started to walk in the direction where they came from.

About 15 minutes later, they arrived at an igloo, the entrance of Arctic HQ. Guntiver entered first and after descending from the stairs, he arrived in a room. This room was inhabited with the three other members of the Arctic Freedom Fighters: Augustus the Polar Bear, Erma the Ermine and Sealia the Seal.

"Who were those guys?" Erma immediately asked.

"You won't believe it."

Erma moved her eyes from Guntiver to the stairs where Sonic just reached the floor. They waited till everyone was in the room.

"Whoa," Sealia said," That sure is a surprise. What is the reason of your visit? The Herd is still okay."

"We're not here for the Herd... well, not entirely. I'll start explaining."

And so she did. At the end, Guntiver was pondering.

"And now, you want us to help in this war?"

"That was our idea, as well as recruiting some people from the Herd, as weird as that may sound. I don't know if they're willing to fight, so..."

Sally was interrupted by Guntiver.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Those guys are very willing to fight. They despise Dr. Eggman for taking control over them multiple times and letting them attack one of their own, Rotor. Those guys are ready for it."

"And you?"

"Well... unless someone has something against it, I think we are willing to go. Guntiver looked at each member of his Freedom Fighter-group, as to reassure that nobody had complaints.

"Good," Sally said," I'm glad we have you guys to support us in this battle." She smiled.

"Now, could you bring me to Iceborough?" she asked.

"Of course, let's go," Guntiver said, decisively.

Iceborough was a beautiful city... it consisted of almost only ice and snow and was a heaven for tourists who wanted to see a special city... They headed straight at the city hall... apparently, the Arctic Freedom Fighters had gained immediate access to speak to the mayor, without appointment and Sally was glad about that... they had little time and wasting a day or more just for waiting for an appointment didn't help. Just like the rest, the city hall was cut out of ice. It was detailed like heck and a beauty to look at, from the outside and inside. The mayor was called Leon Ecke and was, like the rest of the population, a walrus. Beyond expectation, the mayor wasn't the standard stereotypical mayor: old, gray hair and a nice, well maintained gray mustache. No, this mayor was quite young, muscular and looked like he would scare the heck out of the average citizen. He wore nothing but a black hat that mayors always had in the cartoons. He had an accent, but none of the Freedom Fighters could discover which, cause it was quite an uncommon one. That mystery however, was soon solved when the mayor lead them to his office.

"Sorry for my accent... I hope it won't bother you. My native language is Dutch. I originally come from another Herd, where most of the walruses talk Dutch."

"Oh, it doesn't bother us, mayor," Sally said reassuringly," we barely noticed. You speak fluent English.

"My thanks for the compliment, your Highness," Leon said politely.

"The name Sally will do, mayor. No formalities."

Leon smiled.

"Then I suggest you call me by the name Leon," he said on his turn." Now, what is the reason of your arrival here?"

"We are here to ask you a favor, Leon."

Sally began explaining the situation. Leon gave nods while Sally told her story, as a sign that he understood what she said. At the end, Leon nodded.

"We'll be happy to help and I'm sure we're able to form a small "army". Further on, if you don't bother, I could rearrange soldiers from my old Herd. It's a very big one and has its own army. I bet they want to cooperate too. And don't worry... most of them know English."

"Every help is wanted, Leon," Sally said.

Leon smiled and said:

"Then, I think we're done, not?"

"If you don't have anything to say, we are ready, yes," Sally confirmed.

Leon personally lead them outside.

When they had said goodbye to the mayor, they saw that it started to get dark.

"Hmm... I guess that we need to find accommodation, it's getting late," Amy said.

"I think you could stay with Rotor's mother and his brother Skeeter. She'd be glad to hear about her son again," Guntiver suggested.

"Betcha," Sonic said. "And you? Going with?"  
>"Nah, dude... we're going back to Arctic HQ," Guntiver said.<br>"Sure... have a good day," Sonic said, giving Guntiver a hand. After that, the Arctic Freedom Fighters departed.

"So... where does Rotor's mom live?" Bunnie wondered.

"I know where," Sonic said," I've been here before, remember."

"I clearly remember, Sonic," Bunnie responded.

A few minutes, Sonic knocked on the door of a villa... yes, Rotor's mom lived in a villa. She was a widow. Soon after Skeeter was born, his father died of cancer. Since her husband had a very expensive life-insurance, Skeeter's mom, who was called Andrea by the way, inherited quite a lot of money.

After a few seconds, the door opened and a male walrus, looking like a clerk, stood in the opening.

"What can I do for you," the clerk said on an official tone.

"I'm Princess Sally Acorn," she said. Immediately, the face of the clerk changed into that of a nervous guy," and I'm here to speak to Andrea Walrus. Is she home?"

"Y-yeah... she is... You may enter, your Highness," the walrus stuttered.

"Sally will do, uhm..."

"Micha."

"Micha... So, where can I find Andrea?"

"F-follow me, your Highness."

Tails and Amy chuckled at the nervous clerk. They had seen much nervous people when Sally introduced herself as a princess. While the rest went to the living room, Sally was led upstairs by the clerk. They both passed two doors on the right and one on the left, before they stopped at a fourth at the right.  
>"She might be asleep, your Highness," Micha said, lowering his voice for the possibility of the truth of his words.<p>

"Oh, I'll wait then," Sally said, turning around. But that wasn't what the clerk intended. If he would let a princess wait, he could a expect and admonition from Andrea.

"That won't be necessary, your Highness. I believe your visit is of dire importance and therefore, it seems to me she wouldn't mind to be woken up."

"If you say so," Sally said, turning back around again. Micha knocked gently on the door.

"In," it sounded from the other side of the door. Micha looked at Sally, nodded at her and stepped backwards, so she could enter. Sally stepped forward, grabbed the knob, pushed it down and opened the door. She saw Andrea sitting behind a desk, writing in a diary of some sorts.

"_So she wasn't asleep after all," _Sally thought. Andrea turned her head at the door and when she saw Sally standing in the opening, her eyes widened of the surprise.

"Princess Sally Acorn. What a pleasure to meet you," she said, taken by surprise. She stood up and walked at Sally. Two seconds later, they shook each other's hand.

"May I ask what the reason of your visit is, princess?"

"Please, Sally will do, ma'am," Sally said, before answering Andrea's question: "And the reason of our visit is that we, me and the Knothole Freedom Fighters, were wondering if we could spend the night here... we had business to do here and it was late when we were done..."

"It'd be an honor," Andrea kindly responded to the request. "Let's go downstairs. Micha will make you some coffee... or do you prefer some tea?"

"Oh, I don't mind," Sally said.

"Micha..." Andrea simply said.

"Yes, ma'am," Micha said, turning around. He walked down the stairs, on his way to make some coffee and tea for the guests. Sally and Andrea also walked down the stairs, but instead of walking to the kitchen, they went to the living room, where the Knothole Freedom Fighters were having a conversation. They all stopped when Andrea stepped into the living room, Sally at her side. She looked around and saw the Freedom Fighters... who were accompanied by Skeeter Walrus and a friend of his, Joël Rehoboth. It seemed that every walrus-child wore something on his head... Rotor wore a yellow cap in his youth, Skeeter still had the hat/cap with the little propeller on his head and Joël wasn't any different. He had a brown, cowboy-like hat on his head.

"I have granted your request," Andrea said smiling. She walked at a chair and sat down on it.

"May I ask what brought your here... did something happen to Rotor?" she asked worriedly.

"No, ma'am," Sally answered," Rotor is perfectly fine."

"Good... I was starting to get worried," she said relieved, "But why are you here then?"

And again, Sally began explaining. After explaining everything, it was silent in the room for a moment. Strange enough, it wasn't Andrea who broke the silence. No, it was Skeeter.

"Can I go along?" was his question.

That surprised the Freedom Fighters. At first none of them knew how to react to his question. Eventually, Sonic started the conversation again:

"Kid... you're far too young."

Skeeter was fast to reply.

"I'm not only talking about this war... I'm talking about taking my brother's place in the Freedom Fighters."

"Kid," Sally began, "You are far too young..."

Skeeter interrupted.

"Puh... you guys fought Dr. Robotnik when you were 10... don't tell me I'm too young."

The Freedom Fighters didn't know how to answer... Sally turned to Andrea with look that said: 'Please, talk this idea out of his head.' Andrea got the message.

"I think my son is totally right, actually," Andrea said, to the surprise of everyone.

Consternation was dripping from Sally's face, as to speak. How could they allow a boy of 10 in a group of teens. The youngest member, Tails, was 11, which was around his age, but he had experience since his 6th or so and was a big value to the team due to his knowledge of machines and all... Just as Sally was about to harshly say 'no', an idea came up in her mind.

"I... have an idea, I think," Sally said. Everyone turned to Sally.

"I've heard more people of your age asking if they could have a place in the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Since then, a plan has been developing in my head to put all the kids with potential in a new Freedom Fighter-group. I think we could form a new group out of you two," Sally pointed at Joël and Skeeter, "Cream the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao, Sasha, Snaggle, Rory and maybe Li Moon. That's seven people... well enough for a group... with some training, they could become a valuable team."

The rest needed to think about that.

"Are you sure Vanilla would want Cream to be in a Freedom Fighter-group?"

"Well... yes, in fact she does. I have already been training Cream every now and then. The orphans are certainly willing to join the group and I've heard from Li Moon that she has been training with her grandfather Li Yuen for a very long time now in martial arts."

It was silent again.

"Y'know," Sonic said, "It's weird that the idea is coming from you."

Sally smiled.

"Heh... It seems I never cease to surprise."

"That aside, I like the plan," Sonic said, looking around what the other thought about it. The others nodded approvingly. Their heads turned to Skeeter and his friend.

"Question is: what do you think, kid?" Sally questioned.

"I have one question, before I decide. Who's gonna lead it?" Skeeter asked curiously.

"Well," Sally said, "Would you mind to take that task?"

Skeeter now started to smile.

"Not at all, Princess. Not at all," he said with a smile that ran from ear to ear.


	4. So, Thee Beseeches My Help?

"Princess? Can we take a little break for a moment?" a child's voice said. It was Joël. They'd walked non-stop through the woods, since tomorrow and for a kid, it's already impressive he got this far, without stopping. Sally found it a miracle they hadn't collapsed from fatigue yet.

"I think we well deserve that," Skeeter said, supporting his friend's proposal.

"Already tired," Sally said teasing. "I ain't tired one bit... c'mon... you wanna be a Freedom Fighter, then you gotta prove you are worth being one."

"You ain't tired, Princess?" Skeeter said, his face revealing he was about to say something smart. "Why then ain't you walking in the front of the group, like when we left?"

Sally said nothing... that was a solid point.

"You sure are quite attentive, kid," she said, which caused Skeeter to smile and slightly blush. "Guys, we're stopping here for a while."

"I thought you'd nevair say that, Princess," Antoine immediately commented. He dropped himself on the ground, shoved himself with his back against a tree and vowed to not move an inch from where he sat, until the sun was under.

"See that, kids," Sonic said, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder at Antoine," you're not the only one here that..."

"Oh, keep your stupeed comments for yourself, Sonic," Antoine said angrily, before Sonic could finish his sentence.

"You're totally ruining my joke, Ant," Sonic said, walking at Sally, who was drinking a coffee from a plastic cup. He stooped to pick up a thermos flask on the grass. On the side was written "coffee".

"Have a cup for me?" Sonic asked Sally. Sally, sitting against a tree, looked up at Sonic.

"If you look good, you'll probably find them in the bag right behind you."

Sonic turned around and saw the the desired object.

"Smart," he said to himself. He zipped it open en slid his hand in the bag. Two seconds later, he pulled his hand out again, revealing a whole roll of plastic cups. He picked one and threw the rest in the grass, much to Sally's irritation.

"Bags were made for a purpose, Sonic," she said, admonishingly.

"So does grass..." Sonic said carelessly, filling his plastic cup with the hot, black liquid called coffee.

Sally sighed and grabbed the roll of plastic cups herself and put them in the bag. Just as Sonic wanted to take his first sip of the coffee, a gun shot disturbed the peaceful sphere. A bullet barely hit Sonic and pierced through the cup of coffee Sonic was holding. Everyone was startled and everyone took cover behind a tree.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelled.

Sonic let himself fall to the ground and looked at where he thought the gunner would approximately be. Nothing happened. Only the wind made some sound by rustling the leaves on the ground and in the trees.

"Who's there! Identify yourselves!" Sally yelled, from behind the tree she had been peacefully sitting a few seconds ago.

No answer...

"I hate this," Sonic whispered to himself, glancing into the trees before him.

"Tut tut tut," a voice suddenly came from above. "Always so naïve."

Sonic looked up and saw a very familiar weasel, sitting in the tree right before him.

"Nack!" Sonic said surprised. He hadn't expected Nack to be here. The last time he'd seen him was four months ago...

"You're gonna regret that," Sonic said angrily. He sped up and ran vertically up the tree in mere seconds. But before he reached the branch where the weasel was on, Nack had jumped out of the tree. Two seconds later, Sonic jumped down from the tree again. The other Freedom Fighters had gathered before Nack.

"What are you doing here, Nack," Sonic said. Anger could clearly be heard in his voice. "Last I saw you was when you tried to assassinate my father. What do you want now!"

"Oh, me and my lads are just visiting, Nack said, avoiding the true answer and revealing through this sentence that he was not alone.

"Ah, you brought someone with you... How can someone be that stupid to travel with you... I bet he's even more stupid than you."

"Thank you for the compliments," Nack said sarcastically. He snapped his fingers. This was a sign for three others to appear aside Nack: Bean, Bark and Nic.

"Oh, is there any possibility you could've composed an even worse team?" Sonic said mockingly. The anger in Nack's face satisfied the blue hedgehog... Nack controlled himself and said:  
>"We aren't here to fight, though," Nack said looking at the reactions of the Freedom Fighters.<p>

Sally didn't look surprised, but inside, she was.

"Why were you assassinating Sonic, then?" Sally said.

"Oh... I was merely testing my accuracy, Princess..." Nack replied, with a smile on his face. He shoved the gun he'd held in his hand all this time in a holster to emphasize his statement.

"This still begs the question why you are here if you don't have the intention to attack us," Sally said.

"Heh... you won't believe your ears, but we're here to lend you a hand with whatever you are doing... for about three years."

That amazed everyone.

"That, Nack, is the most out-off-character-thing I've ever seen someone doing," Sonic said unbelieving.

"Not if we get paid every day for it," Nack replied, surprising the Freedom Fighters once more.

"You get paid for it? Someone's paying you to assist us... in what we're doing?" Sally said.

"Who is this guy?" Tails asked.

"Ever heard of Zonic?" Nack said.

Sonic was surprised once more... will these surprises ever stop?

"He's the one who's paying you?"

"Exactly," Nack confirmed. He grabbed behind his back and when he brought his hand back, he had a small device in his hands.

"Here... click on the button," Nack said, throwing the thing to Sonic. The blue hedgehog caught it, looked at it for a second and then followed Nack's instructions and clicked the button. From the top of the device, a beam of light emerged from a tiny hole. The beam showed a holographic message... from Zonic.

"_Greetings, Sonic. Right now, I assume you're standing before Nack, Nic, Bark and Bean with astonished faces. But it is true, I sent them to aid you in whatever you're doing... You'll need them on your mission to Monius. You may not know it yet, but the war ahead of you is more important then you can imagine. I wish you luck. Oh, by the way, this won't be the last help I'll be sending. Zonic out."_

The holographic message stopped and the light disappeared. The Freedom Fighters were silent...

"Well... it seems they mean it," Sally said eventually, breaking the silence.

"So," Nack began, "what is this war that guy's talking about?"

And again, Sally started explaining. At the end, Nack pulled his gun and started rubbing it with his hand, as if he was cleaning the dangerous piece of metal. While looking at his own reflection in the metal of the gun, he stated:  
>"This, Princess, is quite an interesting mission you're talking about." He looked up from his gun and stretched out his hand. Sally took the hand and shook it.<p>

"Maybe it's hard to believe," Nack said, shoving his gun in his holster again, "but I've always wanted to work together with you guys."

"Welcome to the team then," Sally said.

All this time, Bean, Bark and Nic had been silent, but when Sally said that, Bean jumped in the air and yelled:

"YAY! I'M A FREEDOM FIGHTER!"

The rest blinked and looked at the crazy duck.

"Riiiiight," Sonic said. "We gotta move on... we still need to ask Rob's assistance in the war."

* * *

><p>They arrived in the Kingdom of Mercia in the afternoon. This place looked medieval. Everything was so peaceful. Amy, being Rob's cousin and having grown up here, now lead the group through the mostly narrow streets of Mercilia, the capital 'city' of the Kingdom of Mercia. Soon, the group could see a castle arising on the horizon. Not much later, they'd arrived at the castle, the home of Rob O' the Hedge, his wife Mari-An and their baby, Jon. They walked through the gate and entered the huge garden that was placed before the castle. The maintenance was very good; the garden looked beautiful. Aside from Sonic and Amy, everyone was looking around, taking in the beauty this garden contained.<p>

"Like it?" Amy said to no-one in particular.

"Sure do," Bunnie replied in awe...

"Wait, till you see the castle from the inside," she said, not able to wait to see the astonished faces of the group when they'd see the inside of the castle. But before they could enter, the group was to a halt by two guards.

"Dost thou have an appointment?" One of the guards asked, looking at every member of the group.

Amy decided she'd be the one to speak:

"I think the king's cousin can go in without appointment, don't you think?"

"Thou are Amy Rose?" the guard said surprised. He'd imagined Amy as muscular and strong... he now looked down at a hedgehog that didn't even come near his expectations. He was new, so he really couldn't know, other then what he heard from everyone in the kingdom, who'd exaggerated her appearance so much, that she was portrayed as some sort of super-woman. Amy got mad at the disbelief of the guards.

"Yes, I am... now let me through!"

For a moment, the guards looked at each other. They suddenly started laughing simultaneously.

"Little girl," the guard said, "thou are quite the comedian. But we do not believe what thou are saying."

That made her furiously. Her Piko Piko Hammer appeared out of nowhere and she firmly held it in her hand, ready to strike.

"Now, I ask it politely only one more time. Let... me... in...!"

"Nuh-uh. Not a chance," the guard said. This started to get irritating.

"Good... your choice."

Before anyone could stop Amy, she swung her hammer and with power, she hit both guards with one sweep. The magic in the hammer threw the guards over a longer distance then a normal hammer would do. The two both came down and fell into the grass. With faces full of pain, the guards looked at Amy, with her hammer.

"Uhm, Amy," Sally said. "I could have said I'm Sally Acorn. It would've worked too."

The guards slowly stood up and wiped the dirt of their uniforms.

"Are you now convinced?" Amy said, looking angrily at the guards and ignoring Sally

"Thou may enter, ma'am," one of the guards said, trying to maintain his polite manners towards this girl.

"Hmph," Amy said, walking at the door. The other followed silently.

When they had all disappeared through the door and the door had fallen back in its place, one of the two guards said:

"Fere, we just wrought the biggest mistake of the month."

"Thou trow we shall be fired?" the other said, shivering at the thought of being fired by the king himself... that'd be a shame.

"She doesn't look very forgiving to me," the first guard replied.

"Let's hope for the best..." the second guard said.

"...and fear the worst," the first guard said, ending the sentence.

Inside, Bean thought he'd walked into heaven. Everywhere were shiny things... gold, silver and other expensive materials were incorporated in things everywhere, from the lamps on the ceiling to the doorknobs. And they were polished daily. Bean jumped from the one object to the other, not knowing which thing he liked the most. Along with all the shiny things, the castle mostly existed of wood and stone. A clerk looked at the group when they passed an opening in the wall, which lead to an big room with multiple chairs... a conference room.

"Sorry," the clerk said, "What are thou doing here?"

Amy replied:  
>"My name is Amy Rose and I wish to speak my cousin, Rob O' the Hedge."<p>

"Ah, Amy Rose, the tomboy-princess," the clerk said. Yes, in fact, she was a princess, since Rob was king. Immediately after the clerk had said that, he regretted it. Speaking to a princess like that is improper. But to his surprise, Amy started laughing.

"Please," she said with a smile on her face. "Call me Amy... I've never been addressed as princess and I insist it stays like that. Tomboy-princess... do they call me here like that?"

"Well," the clerk said, blushing, "the population is quite proud of thou, prin... uhm, Amy. Thou have got overmany names here. They see thou as some kind of super-woman."

"Oh, tell me something new," Amy said, smiling.

"It's because of a few photos showing thou as a child in this palace, that I wit better."

"Heh," Amy chuckled, "Anyways, could you bring me to my uncle?"

"Yes. Follow me," the clerk said, turning around.

"It's been some time ago I last entered this castle. I don't remember much of it anymore," Amy said, looking around in awe herself, while the clerk lead them to the room Rob O' the Hedge was in... He knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to reply from the other side of the door. Amy, however, wasn't that patient and was very eager to meet her uncle again. She pushed open the door and stepped inside. At the same time, a voice in the room said:

"Thou may enter."

Rob O' the Hedge, obviously the one saying that, now looked surprised as his cousin stormed in.

"Dear cousin!" he said, surprised, standing up from his desk. Amy ran at him and hugged her uncle. Rob hugged back.

"I'm so happy to see you again," Amy said.

"Likewise," Rob said back. "Who hast thou brought with thou? Oh, I see some well-known faces."

Sonic stepped forwards and stretched his hand for Rob to shake it. Rob accepted the hand with pleasure.

"Long time no see, Rob," Sonic said.

"Sonic, my fere! A pleasure to see thou again!" Rob answered.

And so it went forth. After that, the inevitable question came:

"What is the reason of thee arrival hither?"

An explanation later, Rob replied:

"So... thou beseeches my support in this war, right?"

"That's exactly it," Sally confirmed Rob's thoughts.

"Well," Rob decided, "I accept thee proposal and shall lead my troops myself."

"You... you are going to Monius to?" Amy asked.

Rob smiled.

"That was what I said, dear cousin. I shall be traveling with thee to Monius."


	5. Surprisingly Out Of Character Or Not?

Ah... the Dragon Kingdom... A sight to never be forgotten once you see it... the beautiful mountains, big lakes, splendid villages with their typical houses and roofs, magnificent villains, traditional clothing... wait... magnificent villains? Make that the Destructix. The group was walking somewhere near Mount Stormtop... the leader, Fiona Fox, was walking before the rest.

"_I can't believe I actually accepted his proposal," _she thought. Behind her, the rest of the Destructix walked, doing random things, if not doing anything. The heat was wearing them off... But the end was near.

"Look!" Lightning yelled, pointing in the distance, east from him. They all looked in the direction Lightning was pointing at... a group of Mobians walked about 500 meters away from them in the opposite direction.

"Bet that's them," Fiona said. "C'mon... we won't get our money if we don't help them."

In the meantime, the group of Mobians, who, I think you can guess it, were the Knothole Freedom Fighters (and their companions), were walking towards Stormtop Village. The group was very big now. Skeeter and Joël were more then deadly tired. If it was possible, they would've fallen asleep walking. Amy just wiped the sweat of her forehead and looked in the distance, hoping to spot Stormtop Village. Sonic was getting quite tired too... he was fast and had built up quite some stamina along the years, but even he was getting fatigue... the sun was killing him. Sally, the one leading was somewhere far behind. And now comes a strange fact. Both Antoine and Bunnie were in the front having a nice conversation with each other. Miles "Tails" Prower was also totally tired and if he'd go on like this, he'd just give up and let himself fall in the grass. What could you expect from a kid of 11 years old. Nack and Nic were at the same level as Amy... totally exhausted. Bark hadn't showed a single sign of fatigue and was just walking somewhere in the front, looking around him, as if he wasn't bothered by the sun and the long walk. But the most annoying one of the whole group was Bean. Jumping from the one to the other, he was asking the most weird questions he could come up with. Since he was now an ally, they couldn't kick his ass, so they gave him either death-glares or non-sensical answers... which Bean enjoyed.

"Tired, Sonic," Antoine said, glancing at Sonic, who looked up when he heard his name.

"Huh... whaddya say?"

"You look very tired."

Sonic looked at Antoine with a dangerous look that said: "Shut up." Antoine enjoyed this. Two days ago, when walking through Mercia, he'd had muscular pains, which caused walking over long distances painful at a certain moment. But now, he was in top condition... and no matter how you look at it, Antoine had a perfect stamina. Bunnie had robotic limbs, which obviously, couldn't be affected by fatigue. Antoine smiled at the look Sonic gave him.

"You're so much more entertaining when you're like that," Antoine said, before turning to Bunnie to ask her something to start a new conversation. Meanwhile Nack was thinking.

"_Respect for these guys, man. Whoa... did I think that... might not want to say that in public."_

He was suddenly tapped on the shoulder by someone. Looking around, he saw Bark had done that. He made gestures with his hand and pointed with his thumb to the west. Nack looked at the direction where Bark was pointing at and saw a group of Mobians.

"Hold it guys," Nack said. "I see a group of five coming in our direction."

Everyone turned to him and then at where Nack was staring at. He was right. There were five Mobians coming at them.

"You think those guys are the new support that Zonic promised to send?" Sonic said aloud.

"Big chance," someone in the group answered.

"Heck," Tails said, "Aren't that the Destructix?"

"You're right," Sally said.

"Ugh..." Sonic commented, "Can't Zonic find any good help."

"Hey... you dissatisfied with us!" Nack said angry.

"Oh, no," Sonic replied, "I'm complementing you."

The Destructix had come near the group in the meantime. Sally started walking towards Fiona.

"Time ago we last saw you," Fiona said, when Sally stood before her.

"I suppose you're the help Zonic would send," Sally said, ignoring what Fiona had said.

"Oh. You got word of it already. I only had to say that he'd send more help later."

"More help?" Sally said surprised. "We already have Nack, Nic, Bean and Bark. Don't you think it's a bit overkill, if he's sending even more guys?"

"_Wait,"_ Fiona thought_, "those four are also here?"_

She looked behind Sally and saw in the group Nack, Nic, Bean and Bark.

"Yeah... you can say that. Anyways, Princess... I think you know then that we're paid by Zonic to assist you in the upcoming years."

"I know that... and he's doing that with a purpose. In about two weeks, we're leaving this planet and going to another planet," Sally said.

"Whoa," Fiona said, surprised about the plan. "Why?"

And there Sally started explaining again.  
>"So... we're going to fight in an all out war?"<p>

"That's exactly the plan. According to Zonic, it's quite an important war. He wouldn't been helping, otherwise," Sally said thoughtfully.

"Hmm... that guy has some guts to send us right in a serious war, but the amount of money he gives is irresistible," Fiona said. "Anyways, what were you heading for?"

"Stormtop Village," Sally answered. "But we can't find it..."

"And that's not surprising," Fiona interrupted Sally. "You've already walked past Stormtop Village. It's about 10 kilometers back. Who's the navigator here? Sure doesn't do a good job."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Next time," Sally said, death-glaring at Sonic. "We just use one of Tails' devices..."

"But... I really thought it was somewhere up there!" Sonic protested. "A Mobian makes mistakes."

"A device doesn't: problem solved," Sally said, ending the conversation.

"Sure," Sonic said, dissatisfied by Sally's decision. _"Why does everything need to be done by devices and all anyways!"_

Fiona looked at this and smiled.

"This," she said, "is something I missed since I left the Freedom Fighters."

"Welcome back... I'm glad you're enjoying yourself already," Sally replied sarcastically.

"Guys... can we get a move on?" Nack asked. "The sooner we're there, the sooner I can rest. The sun is killing me!"

Sally turned to Nack and said:

"Sure. Let's go."

It took them quite some time to actually find Stormtop Village and when they finally did, they were all completely exhausted. Sonic had already more then once wished it would start snowing... no luck. It was over 40 degrees and it was not gonna change. From everyone in the group, Joël and Skeeter were the most exhausted. Not only because they were kids, but also because they were not used to this high temperatures. They lived in the Northern Tundra were temperatures were barely higher then 15 degrees, mostly far below that. But okay, they'd finally reached Stormtop Village. There was nobody. At least, not outside. Most people were probably inside, trying to hold a siesta of some sorts. Blinding the windows kept the warmth a bit out. So when the group arrived, there was nobody to greet them.

"Okay, so we're here now... what do we do now?" Fiona asked, looking around. She scratched her nose that was itching a little.

"Sal knows where monkey-fuzz is," Sonic said, looking at Sally.

"I do?" Sally said, stating that Sonic was incorrect about his supposition.

"Oh, great," Sonic exclaimed, looking at the sky desperately.

"Calm down. Li Yuen probably does know," Sally said, reassuring him that the torture of warmth would be over soon.

"Yeah, you're right... Let's go to him."

Li Yuen lived just outside the city in a somewhat bigger house than the rest. He was considered to be somewhat of a leader, a mayor, of the small town. When they arrived there, they were surprised to see Li Yuen outside, under a veranda. He was sitting in a comfortable chair. Before him was a wooden table. The only thing on it was a white cup of tea. Regardless of his age, his hearing was still very good and when the group arrived, he tilted his head and looked at the one in front of the group: Sally Acorn. He smiled, slowly stood up and started walking at the group.

"Stay here," Sally said to everyone in the group. She left the group and walked to Li Yuen.

Sally bowed before Li Yuen. Li Yuen did so too... when they both straightened their bodies again, Sally said:

"Sorry to interrupt your rest."

"Oh, there was nothing to interrupt," Li Yuen responded with a smile.

Sally smiled back.  
>"We are looking for Ken Khan. Do you happen to know where he might be?" Sally asked politely.<p>

Li Yuen looked thoughtful... as if he was trying to remember where Monkey Khan might be.

"He is not here at the moment. He left two days ago to the Iron Fortress. I think he wanted to investigate the sudden disappearance of the whole clan," he looked past Sally and saw the big group.

"I see you brought company. And seeing what time it is at the moment, I invite you and all your companions to stay here till tomorrow. It's far to warm to travel now.

"That's very generous, but we don't want to importune you."

"Oh, I like company."

"But... we'll never fit in your house."

"At this time of the year, you can sleep outside. There's no problem," Li Yuen said.

"Well... if we really won't be a nuisance, I guess we won't decline your offer."

* * *

><p>"Can't sleep?"<p>

Nack turned around, surprised by the voice. The voice belonged to Fiona Fox, who stood right behind him.

"Sort of," Nack replied. He was looking at the numerous stars in the sky. The sky was much brighter here. He sighed.

"It feels weird to work together with them."

Nack pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at a few tents where probably the rest of the group was sleeping. He then resumed looking at the sky.

"Never thought that would ever happen," he said.

"I haven't seen you that thoughtful in my life, Nack," Fiona said, looking at Nack's back.

"I surprise myself too," Nack replied, still staring up to the sky, "And the stupid thing is, it isn't really bad working with them."

"Yeah... I'm more concerned about that war. I've got quite an adventurous life behind me and still have much more to go, but I never thought I'd fight in a war. And certainly not a war that big. There's actually a chance I won't make it out alive. That sometimes sends shivers up my spine, y'know."

"Don't think about death to much... if you're dead, then you're dead. Simple as that. I'm not really afraid of that... but it gives me weird feeling when I think about the fact that I will fight alongside my former enemies in a war. As soldiers in the nick of the battle. Who knows what'll happen."

Fiona nodded.

"Yeah..."

Suddenly, the light in Li Yuen's house turned on. The two turned around surprised when the light fell upon them and casted long shadows in the opposite direction.

"What the..." Fiona exclaimed.

"Let's go and look what's going on there," Nack suggested, listening to his curiosity. He walked at the house, followed by Fiona. In less then a few seconds, they'd reached the frontdoor.

"It surprises me that nobody else has awakened," Fiona said, looking at all the tents... there was no evidence that in any of them, somebody had awakened of the light. It stayed silent.

"Hmm... I don't care about that. I'm more curious about what is going on here. I hope it's not a robbery or something like that. Anyone under their care," Nack pointed with his thumb at the tents, "is under our care... and anyone dying under our care will result in less money... that's what Zonic said."

Fiona was shocked.

"I... didn't even think about that."

She didn't wait and pushed down the knob, opening the door. Looking in the room, it seemed they had been worrying for nothing. Li Yuen was sitting on a bench with a cup of tea. He looked up surprised when Fiona opened the door.

"What're you doing here?" he said, surprised.

"Well," Fiona said. "We saw the lights going on here and thought we'd check it out. You never know."

Li Yuen sighed.

"Sorry that I awakened you..."

"There's no need to," Fiona said, "We were already awake. But may I ask, what's the matter?"

That question surprised Nack. Why would she ask something like that? Although working alongside the good guys, she still was a villain. She wouldn't care about this, right?

"I've been thinking about Sally's question if Li Moon could join a new Freedom Fighter group. I can't sleep because of it," Li Yuen said, revealing the reason he was sitting here, sipping from a cup of tea.

Fiona walked at the bench Li Yuen was sitting on and sat down beside him. Nack slowly walked in too and closed the door. He didn't know what Fiona wanted to do, but in his opinion, this situation became weirder and weirder by the second. He stood there uncomfortably. He couldn't process everything... Fiona acted totally out of character and he did so too, in his opinion. In a few words: Nack was totally confused. Li Yuen sipped from his cup and sighed.

"Tell me," Fiona began, "what exactly is keeping you from sleeping? The idea that your granddaughter is going to fight in a war?"

Li Yuen stared forward, at a small painting of him and Li Moon. He shook his head.

"It's nothing like that. It's... fear of failure," he confessed.

That surprised both Nack and Fiona.

"Fear of failure?" Fiona said.

"I know it sounds weird," Li Yuen said, verbalizing the thoughts of the fox and the weasel, "But it is me who brought her up, me that taught her to fight. What if she fails... then it's my fault."

"Is that a reason to not let her go? Do you want to let her go?" Fiona asked.

"Well... yes," was Li Yuen's answer.

"Then, keeping her here won't change anything. Think of it like this. If you'd write a book, would you keep it for yourselves, because of the fear that people might not like it? No, you would let others read it, so they can enjoy the book... and give you critique. In other words, if you tutor someone, you gotta let her go, so she can show you how good you did on bringing her up."

Li Yuen looked at Fiona for a few seconds. A smile appeared on his face.

"You're right. Thanks for the advice."

"No thanks... it was my job, y'know," Fiona said, standing up. She shook Li Yuen's hand.

When they were outside, Nack stared at her with a weird expression on his face.

"It... was your job?" he said confused. "I never saw you as one who could give motivational speeches."

"Well... not really my job, but I studied psychology... don't look at me like that."

"It's just that I didn't expect that from you," Nack said.

"People will never know me fully," she said. With that, she walked to her tent, leaving Nack behind, thinking about that.

* * *

><p>"Boring. Boring... !"<p>

"B..."

"Boring."

"Cou..."

"Boring."

"BEAN SHUT UP!" A voice shouted through the woods. The voice happened to be owned by a very angry and severely annoyed Nack.

"But this is sooooooo boring," Bean said.

"No... of course it's not... I'm dancing of joy because we can walk through this forest... OF COURSE IT IS BORING! BUT DON'T ANNOY US WITH POINTING THAT OUT!" he yelled.

"Bean has a point," Sonic said.

Nack blinked and turned to look at Sonic.

"Great, go and support him and annoy me even more," he turned to Bean and said with a threatening voice:

"After this, I'll never hire you anymore. If you show your face to me after we have done this, I'll kick you around Mobius, until I'm satisfied... and believe me, I won't be satisfied very easily."

Bean looked with big eyes at Nack.  
>"You... you mean this?"<p>

"Yes, I mean this. Do I look like I am joking?"

"I mean... do you really, really mean this?" Bean asked this again.

Nack growled.

"Yes, I do."

"Really, really, really?" Bean asked.

"YES, I MEAN IT WITH EVERY PIECE OF MY BODY!" Nack angrily shouted. There wasn't much that refrained him from killing Bean now and here. Bean blinked two times and then hugged Nack, crying.

"I'm gonna miss ya, buddy," Bean said, emotionally touched by this news.

Nack looked like he was going crazy. If this was a cartoon, his eyes would have changed in spirals... he couldn't stand Bean's logic anymore.

"Arrgh!" he simply shouted to the sky, throwing his hands in the air. It didn't change anything at all. He looked down at Bean, irresolutely, raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"_The only thing stop him acting like a baby is taking back my words... hmph..."_

Alright, alright, don't cry. I take it back.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do... now, can you let me go?"

"You... really do?"

"Yes, I said I did. Now... please, let go of me."

"YAY!" Bean jumped up with his fist in the air of excitement. Unfortunately, this fist happened to have a very unfortunate destiny: Nack's chin.

"OUCH!" he yelled, stepping two steps backwards.

"Oops," Bean said, moving his hand to his mouth.

The others looked at this with raised eyebrows and bored faces.

"C'mon," Sally said to everyone," let's get going."

"Is that necessary?" Sonic asked. "Can't we take a break and do something fun?"

"And... what kind of fun did you have in mind?" Sally asked, expecting a lame answer from the blue hedgehog.

"Uhm... stand-up comedy?" Sonic said with a serious expression.

Sally raised one of her eyebrows and said unbelievingly:

"Stand-up... comedy? Why?"

"Why not," Sonic responded.

"I'll never understand you fully," she said laughing.

"I take that's a 'yes'?" Sonic said.

"That didn't mean anything. And we're not doing stand-up comedian here in the forest... we gotta be there fast... we might miss Khan."  
>"Oh, I'd be so sad if we'd miss him," Sonic said sarcastically.<p>

Sally gave him a look that told Sonic to shut up.

"Alright, alright... sorry. Let's go on," Sonic replied to the look.

It was somewhere in the evening, two days after they left Li Yuen's house, that Sonic an company arrived at the Iron Fortress... The sun, that was going under, gave an orange glow that lightened the fortress in a beautiful way. Unfortunately, Sonic and his friends, if you can call the former villains friends now, weren't here to enjoy the view.

"Nope... just as I thought... not a monkey in sight."

"No, that's a surprise," Sally replied with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"I wonder what he has to do here... either he still is here, he has gone somewhere else, or we missed him when we were on our way to here," Amy said.

"Eef 'e eez 'ere... what reason would 'e 'ave to stay two days 'ere?" Antoine questioned.

"I dunno... let's ask 'im when we see him," Sonic replied.

"And we won't get anywhere if we stay where we are," Fiona said. She was surprised about the amount the Freedom Fighters spent talking to each other...

"She's right, Sal-Gal," Bunnie said, supporting Fiona.

"Right, let's go," Sally decided.

"What did you wanna do? Knock on the door and ask if Monkey-fuzz is in there?" Sonic said.

"By going to that fortress, we are at least doing something," Fiona said impatiently.

They walked to the big gate... arriving there, Sally gave everyone their tasks.

"Nic, Skeeter, Bean and Skeeter. You stay here just in case. Sonic, Nack, Fiona, Lightning and Li Moon, you go look for another entry and enter the fortress there... if you don't find one, come back and go via the big gate. Me, Amy, Joël, Simian and Bark go via this gate and Tails, Bunnie, Predator and Flying Frog go aerial. Got that? Okay, when you find him, or something interesting, inform me and the other groups with this."

Out of the pocket of her blue jacket she got four walkie-talkies. She gave one to Nic, another to Sonic, a third to Tails and the last she kept to herself.

While Predator, Flying Frog, Tails and Bunnie flew up and Sonic, Nack, Fiona, Lightning and Li Moon ran away, Simian and Bark made themselves ready to smash the door out of its hinges. Sally ducked slightly and covered her ears and face when the two hit the big iron gate with their two fists... their joint powers made them succeed and with a lot of noise and flying debris and dust, the gate collapsed.

"We're in," Simian announced.

"Good," Sally said walking in... torches lit the corridor leading to what was still unknown. Those torches gave Sally enough to stand still and think.

"_There are quite some torches in this fortress... the Raiju Clan has left this two months ago or something... there would not have been enough oxygen to keep these torches burning... I don't believe that the Raiju are that clumsy to forget to close a window, so this fortress is still inhabited... or there is another logical explanation I don't see."_

"What's wrong, Sal?" Amy asked.

"Uhm... nothing... I was considering... things."

"Sure," Amy said. "We gotta move on."

"Yeah," Sally said, now completely snapping out of her former thoughts. She had to keep her thoughts where they needed to be and she needed them to concentrate... The fortress was big and after 5 minutes, the group knew that very well... there were numerous corridors, side-passages and doors that they would have been very lost if Sally didn't have a map of the Iron Fortress. How she attained obtained it, the other didn't know. Probably, Geoffrey had had a mission that included mapping the Iron Fortress... it didn't matter, anyways. Though it is weird that she actually had it with her... well, coincidence plays a role more than often, not? After fifteen minutes the corridor they were currently walking in ended. Though it wasn't a dead end. It ended in a door.

"Let's check this out," Sally said. She tried the doorknob and found out it was closed. A few seconds later, a loud 'BENG' echoed through the fortress as Simian slammed the door into smithereens. He rubbed his fist, since slamming a metal door can't be done painlessly. Sally stepped in, followed by the others. The room was completely empty.

"Well... let's go back and..."

Sally turned around and suddenly saw a lynx standing there... a metal lynx.

"Crap," she said. Suddenly, rumbling came from the ceiling and a second later, lynxes ascended from above, destroying the ceiling.

"A trap... so I was right after all!" Sally said.


	6. Backstory! I Require Backstory!

And then everything went black...

"Hey, what's happening!" Ferdiky yelled.

Everyone was back in the room where the LP stood. They looked around surprised... after having blinked for a few seconds, they turned their attention at Shadow, who already was typing on the panel... the amount of "deets" caused by pressing a button proved that Shadow was typing fast... very fast.

"Shadow... why aren't we looking at that cute, pretty squirrel right now, but standing in this room?" Ferdiky asked.

"Dude!" Zimok said with slight disbelief, "Don't tell me you fell in love with a girl that died around 50.000 years ago..."

Ferdiky raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't fell in love with her... if I find Milima here cute and pretty, it doesn't... mean..." Ferdiky looked at Milima, the cow, who death-glared back.

"What! I'm only giving the hedgehog an example!" Ferdiky said to Milima.

"Hmph... You don't necessarily need to speak the truth, silly echidna... though I agree that finding another example of cute and pretty in this room is very hard," Milima said.

All this time, Shadow had been typing on the panel.

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Milima now asked, turning to the ebony hedgehog, while Ferdiky and Zimok went on discussing.

"Technical stuff... seems like we can only use it for a certain length of time... he then needs to rest for half an hour... otherwise, it'll overheat itself and explode," Shadow explained.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Milima asked.

"I have no idea," Shadow replied.

"Maybe we can eat something," Milima suggested.

"Of course... the restaurant's around the corner and the supermarket across the street. Where shall we go?" Ferdiky's voice sounded sarcastically, proving that he was still listening to the conversation of Milima and Shadow.

"Are those brains of yours really as small as I believe them to be? We brought our own supplies, you dummy!" Milima said back.

"Oh... I just think we happen to have forgotten the infinite cookie-jar," Ferdiky went on with his sarcastic comments, "Our supplies won't be here forever!"

Zimok chuckled and then said:

"Well, Milima, Ferdi has a point. Our food-supplies aren't infinite. And Ferdiky happens to be quite an eater. I don't know how much is left, but it's not enough for another week."

Milima looked up, seemed to have gotten an idea and turned at Shadow.

"Could there be any food left in this building?"

"This building?" Shadow asked, "a CIU-building? It's one of the many buildings of the Crime Investigation Unit, not a restaurant. And by the way, this building has been destroyed two months ago... I doubt we'd find any food in this building."

"Why didn't we think of this problem in the first place." Zimok asked to no-one in particular.  
>Everyone was thinking.<p>

"We could go back to Mobius," Zimok said hesitatingly, as if he didn't think the rest would agree with the plan.

"WHAT! Back to... there?" Ferdiky yelled.

"Zim, I'm not gonna wager my life for some food on a planet full of Xorda."

"And even if we're underway, we're in danger of being seen," Shadow reasoned, "I think leaving Vennettilli is not a possibility."

"But... where do we find food then?" Zimok protested, stating that there was no other way.

"Sure, you can go, Zim. But when you're dead, don't come whining to me!" Shadow replied.

Without his buddies to agree with him, Zimok determined that leaving the planet they were on, Vennettilli, a name that was the last name of the one discovering the planet, was not an option.

"And planet Kaye? Is that an option?" Zimok suggested.

"If only Nicole was still alive, we could have gone there," Shadow replied, "She was the one keeping the real climate outside and supplying oxygen. Without her, all the nanites protecting the planet's civilization has been destroyed by the pressure. But, man, does that machine bring back memories..."

"Bring back memories later. Right now, we gotta have food," Milima said, "I suggest we still go look in this building, even though there's little chance."

"We've got little else to do anyways," Zimok said, agreeing to Milima's proposion. Shadow and Ferdiky silently agreed to that.

"C'mon then," Shadow said, "I'll give ya a short tour through the building."

"Are we going to pass your workplace?" Milima asked.

"That's almost on the top... that's where all the higher officers were. The top part of this building has been bombarded... there's little chance my workplace is standing upright," Shadow explained, while walking to the door they used to enter this room.

"How does it feel to walk around in this building?" Zimok asked when they stood in the hallway.

"Nostalgia," Shadow answered with one word. He turned left and said:  
>"Let's first look for food, if that can still be found. The restaurant was downstairs... it'll take ten minutes to go there."<p>

Ferdiky turned his head at Shadow.

"Ten minutes? That's long. I can't imagine... walking that long only for a little snack."

"Well, it's a large building. But this part of the bulding wasn't used much. Most of these rooms contain prototypes of machines, most not even finished. The only people walking around in these parts of the building were scientists and researchers."

"Wait, so you say behind every door is a different prototype... of something?" Milima asked.

Shadow nodded.

"Though from 75%, I have no idea what they're for."

"Yannicka would've loved this place," Ferdiky said.

"She sure would have," Zimok replied agreeing, "a shame what happened to her."

Apparently, Yannicka was a painful memory for all of them... Zimok sighed.

"I miss her a lot," he said, with a sad tone.

"I can imagine," Ferdiky replied to Zimok's words. "She was your girlfriend."

Zimok slightly nodded. The rest of the "journey to the restaurant", everyone was silent.

When Shadow stopped at the door that hid the restaurant from the four friends, Shadow noted:

"Well... here's the restaurant... former restaurant... though it does look quite intact..."

With those words, Shadow proceeded by pushing open the piece of wood which were called doors by normal Mobians. The restaurant... could barely be called a restaurant anymore.

"You were saying...?" Ferdiky said, looking sideways at the ebony hedgehog, after having looked over the complete mess that had taken over the floor of the restaurant. Pieces of unidentifiable rubbish, wood, iron or steel, stone and still recognizable things were inhabiting the pretty big floor of the restaurant.

"Well... at least the walls are still standing," Shadow began.

"Wrong," the attentive Milima said, proving Shadow wrong, "a whole wall has been broken down... look good and you can see that. Another clue is the pretty big amount of stone lying on the floor... I would find it really weird if Xorda warriors happened to have carried random stones to here, just for fun."

"What's wrong with that," Ferdiky immediately, "it's not like it's hard and it really is fun!"

"You," Milima reacted," never cease to surprise me with your weird obsessions and hobbies."

"This is neither an obsession nor a hobby," Ferdiky replied.

"Who cares?" Milima said, not interested anymore in the pretty useless conversation.

"Let's search for food instead."

"That's impossible!" Zimok reacted. "That's like finding a needle in a haystack!"

"For this situation, that is an awfully big understatement, Zim," Ferdiky said.

"Nothing is impossible," Milima said, walking forwards through the rubble. She almost fell after she didn't look carefully to the ground and a big rock happened to be lying in her way...

"So, Shadow... why not tell us some overall things," Ferdiky suddenly said.

"Overall things?" Shadow replied to Ferdiky's vague sentence.

"Yeah... explanations... like, what are the origins of the Monians and how come they're almost identical to Mobians?"

"Oh, like that... well, the answer on both is pretty simple. By the time the Xorda made contact with the humans, Earth wasn't the only planet inhabited with humans anymore. They had space colonies, four to be precise. Monius was one of them. The Xorda visited Earth first and then bombarded it with the Gene Bomb. Soon after, the now called planet of Monius was also bombarded. The two other colonies remained unknown for the Xorda until 50 years ago, when the other two were also discovered. One of the colony has been completely destroyed. The last colony, Hollandia, was named after a region in The Netherlands, a former kingdom on Earth, because of the huge amount of Dutch population that inhabits Hollandia. They are still in war with the Xorda and surprisingly, are doing well, because of their superior technology. Now the Mobian Empire pretty much has fallen, Hollandia is the biggest and most advanced empire in the universe... and maybe even in the multiverse."

"Wow... interesting," Ferdiky replied to the small explanation.

"And," Zimok asked," is Hollandia inhabited only by Dutch people?"

"Mostly, but there are other big ethnic groups, like Canadians, Japanese, French, Germans, Swedish, Greeks and surprisingly, Inuit. Americans are a minority on Hollandia.

"Guys!" Milima's voice suddenly yelled. "I've found something!"

They all looked up. A quick look told them that Milima had gone to the kitchen of the former restaurant. The open door to the aforementioned room was their proof. They walked over to the door and peeked inside. There they saw... a kitchen... and that was exactly what took them aback.

"The kitchen... it hasn't been demolished," Ferdiky said, astonished by this fact.

"And better, there is food!" Milima yelled excitedly.

"Is that food still eatable?" Zimok asked, afraid to get served up food that was months old.

"Don't worry... it's still good," Milima replied.

"And what is "it"?" Ferdiky asked.

"A lot... there's only one problem... how to prepare the meal? There's no gas here... I can't cook without gas," Milima stated her problem.

"_Hmm," _Shadow thought_," It's a wonder the electricity works in certain parts of the building."_

The answer on Milima's problem came quick enough.

"We have a spacecraft for cooking, Milima," Ferdiky said, "I suggest we go to the spacecraft and have a meal from our own supplies, which I believe we should use up first before starting on the food lying here."

"Sure," Milima said.

The four walked out of the kitchen and into the restaurant. While on their way out, Zimok asked Shadow:

"You know more of this than I do, Shadow. What are exactly the biggest nations at the moment?"

"Y'mean... in the whole universe?"

Zimok nodded.

"First off, humans. They're pretty much the most advanced nation now and have a great culture. They have a couple of small space colonies far away too. Others are probably the Xorda. They're an aggressive race and have bothered the Mobians for a long time. The Nerbs are also a very intellectual and advanced nation. I have heard that they have a weird culture and a beautiful history... but I don't have much information on them. They are still a mystery for the biggest part. If we were on Mobius, I could access the database there and give you a more detailed explanation of who those little green creatures are. They inhabit pretty much every planet in secret and prefer to not have contact with local civilizations. And, well, until a few months ago, Mobius was also on the list. Monius has been on the list for very long too, but since the Xorda are also attacking them now and pretty much captured all of Monius, they are also a collapsing empire. Their colonies have all been destroyed already," was Shadow's long answer.

"It's sad, isn't it," Zimok said.

"What is?" Ferdiky asked.

"That wars can exterminate complete empires. From what I hear, Mobius and Monius were big empires, with a good economy and many people. And a silly war just rips all that apart."


	7. Image Of The Invisible

**So... hello... I'm still planning to update this story every now and then... rereading what I wrote till so far, it seems I forgot to put a disclaimer in every chapter... well, here y'have it: I do not own anything that SEGA does... also, i do not wanna force you, but if you read this could you review... If you don't know what to say, just say "Great story, go on." That will make me feel like it's worth writing... that is, if anyone even reads this... oh, well... It's still fun to write it...**

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><p>50.000-YL<p>

Monius's orbit

"This... this is ridiculous. I do NOT agree with this!" a voice shouted through one of the rooms in one of the gigantic Xorda-spaceships. The voice was loud enough to cause a few pieces of papers to fly up a few centimeters from the large table standing in the same room the person was in. It was a Xorda, but not as we know them from the comic. Not all Xorda look the same. There are differences between different species. This one had legs, and had octopus like arms, with no hands. He had eight octopusarm-like tails and above his head a few octopusarm-like bangs pointed upwards. The expression this creature was currently carrying around on his face was not something he would greet his mother with.

"Unacceptable!"

He slammed his fist, made by rolling up the end of his arm, on the table. It wouldn't have been weird if the impact had slammed the table in two pieces. This slamming, screaming and looking very mad however, didn't impress the ones this Xorda was talking to. In fact, the ones he was talking to were not even in the conference-room. They were visible on a screen as big as a car and showed a few octopus like Xorda (yes, the ones you know from the comics).

"I have never agreed to this. I would go as far as this. This is suicide!" The Xorda again banged his fist on the table.

"In fact, that is basically what we're asking from you. And if you don't listen, we'll take over the ship and carry out the mission ourselves. But it would cause you so much more honor if you did it yourselves.  
>"Wow... I"ll be really satisfied if the citizens will bow before my grave in honor of my suicide attack. I can't offer up my men for such a silly thing!" he said, making his point.<p>

"You have no choice," one of the purple Xorda said, "If, after ten minutes, you haven't set course to your destination, we will carry it out ourselves singlehandedly, do you understand that."

"Hmph... yes, sir."

"CAPTAIN XAVYTON! I'm not your pet! Show some respect!" one of the Xorda said indignantly.

"Sorry, Colonel Xuciuynji. I'll carry out the mission rightaway, Colonel," Captain Xily Xavyton, also current leader on this ship, said reluctantly.

"Good. Colonel Xuciuynji out!"

The Xorda cut off the communication and as the screen turned black, the Captain let his arms fall down, so they were parallel to his body. Two seconds later, he let himself fall into a chair and hid his face in his arms while he put his elbows on the table.

"_This is suicide. And I'm NOT doing this. Who do they think they are! Letting a ship with over 10.000 men crash into a planet to kill off the last resistance. But I have no other choice... right?"_

Suddenly, he shot up.

"No, I do have another choice!"

He stood up and hastily went to a panel. Here, he picked up a communication device and said into some sort of microphone:  
>"Head at the planet at full power until I say stop."<p>

He then cut off the communication. He knew he was blunt and abrupt, but he had not much time. He pressed a button, timed something on the panel and then walked away to the door. As he walked to the iron door, a mechanical voice said:

"Self-destruction in 10 minutes."

As he walked out the door, he thought to himself:

"_I can't save my men, but I can save the innocent lives down on that planet! I hate this war and I hate my own kind for what they have started. I'm not going to serve them anymore!"_

The lowest stage of the whole ship was the prison. Because of the daily executions, not much were down there at this time. In normal situations, this place would be deadly silent, as dead as the persons would be tomorrow. However, this prison was experiencing his weirdest day ever. And we can put all the guilt on three Mobians, around 18 years old. While normally, everyone would be silent, awaiting their death, they were talking to each other, even making jokes and laughing out loud. One of them, a gray hippo, who was not really the slimmest of the three, leaned relaxed against the steel wall.

"Hey, Adrian," said the second of the three, a jackal, to the hippo, "I know how to escape! If you were to jump up and let your immense body crash down on the floor, I'm sure the shock would surely make a hole in the ship."

"John, your advices are the worst," the third, a brown fox, said to the jackal, "The shock would be so immense that we would die from it too... I propose he tries to crash into the wall. That would be a lot safer."

Both laughed. Adrian, however strange maybe, enjoyed this as well. His friends are used to joke about him all the time. That doesn't say he can't counter well. In contrary, despite, what his appearance would tell, he was the smartest of the three. He was a fast thinker and could lie as the best... especially because he didn't look like it, he was a worthy opponent. However, his two friends weren't the worst either. John's most noticable feature was his greediness... for him, every cent counts. He was a proper boy, but could easily tipple into the jokes of Adrian and Bob, the fox. He also was an incredibly good in maths and other things like that. The last of them was Bob. Not like his two friends, he was a Monian, while the other two were Mobians. He loved everything that was mechanical and knew much about it. Together they were a weird phenomenon to see.

Adrian stroked his hand in his orange hair and was just about to counter with one of his brilliant comments, when suddenly, the door was thrown open. Everyone but the three friends shocked up and looked scared at the door, for they thought their last minutes had been counted. However, the Xorda in the door said something entirely else than expected.

"Come on, this ship's gonna blow!"

And while saying that, the doors of the prison's cells opened.

"Follow me!" the Xorda yelled, turning around. Everyone looked at each other and then ran after the Xorda, who was obviously Xily.

"What the heck is going on!" someone yelled. It happened to be an old frog.

"Move, old man," a Nerb said, grabbing the man's arm and dragging him further along the way. After running for two minutes, they arrived at what seemed to be a rescue-spacecraft, enough for about twenty men.

"Get in!" Xily yelled at the group, which consisted of ten people. "We don't have much time left!"

For Xily, they couldn't get in fast enough. When everyone had entered the spacecraft, Xily yelled:

"Does any of you know how to fly something like this? I need help form at least two people!"

Immediately a human stepped forward.

"I'm a former sergeant of the CIU... I think I can..."

"Good," Xily said hastily, cutting of the human. "There's your place. Anyone else?"

"I think I can handle it," Bob said, stepping forward.

Xily raised an eyebrow when seeing the youngish Monian, but decided he had no choice.

"Alright, that's your station," he said, pointing at another panel, which was across the one, the human was assigned to.

"Everyone else," Xily continued," go sit somewhere you can't get in our way... AND FAST!"

Saying that, he ran over to his own seat and pressed a few buttons. Something from inside began rumbling and a second later, the spacecraft shot away without warning, throughout a shaft with high speeds. Seconds later, they were unleashed in space. Xily yelled something at the human, which the rest couldn't hear because of the motor, which making an immense noise because the engine was still warming up. As they were flying a sudden shock caused the spacecraft to shake heavily. Though guessing was easy, it was confirmed by one of the "passengers".

"The... the battleship... it has been blown up completely!"

Sweat dripped from Xily's face, while he asked the human:

"Human... what is your name?"

The human looked up and said, now in a noticable accent:

"Sergeant Martinus van der Plas."

"Martinus, set course for the not yet conquered part of Monius and land somewhere in a lonely area."

When he ended his sentence, he fell from his chair unto the ground, unconsciously, from the huge tension. The last words Xily heard were:  
>"Hey, what's happening with y..."<p>

Slowly, his eyes opened.

"He's back to the land of the living, people," a voice sounded. Suddenly, the head of a Nerb appeared in his eyesight.

"Hey, how're you doing?" the Nerb asked.

Xily groaned and turned his head to the right. There, he looked at a steel wall... A STEEL WALL! He shot up, against the Nerb's head and yelled:

"Are we still in the ship?"

The Nerb, tumbled backwards and landed painfully on the ground.

"OUCH!" he exclaimed.

Xily looked regretful at the Nerb, who was now rubbing the back of his head.

"Oops," the Xorda said.

"To answer the question, yes... we still are. However, we are on the ground as you... commanded."

Xily sighed out of relief. He tried to sit up right and when succeeding in that, he saw pretty much everyone that he had saved.

"We have a few questions, Xorda."

"Ask rightaway," Xily answered.

"First, what is your name," the Nerb started with his questioning.

"That's Xily Xavyton. Captain Xily Xavyton."

"Ah, good. Second, why did you save us?" was the Nerb's second question.

"Because of the mission I had to accomplish. I had to fly full power in the still free area of Monius to kill off the last resistance."

Every single of them were shocked.

"You were supposed to fly that huge ship into the planet?" Martinus asked.

"Uh-huh... I didn't agree with that and blew up the ship... but not before saving you."

"Why didn't you try to save some Xorda?" The Nerb asked.

"I hate them for what they started," was Xily's resolute answer.

"You hate your own kind?" a mole asked.

"That's what I said," Xily said, confirming what he had said a few seconds ago.

A silence fell over the room they were in,

"So," Xily said, breaking the silence after almost a minute, "What're your names?"

"Well," the Nerb said, "my name is Maxx Nerbinson, captain of the Nerb Navy. I'm 36 years old and am, of course, a Nerb.

And then one by one, they began introducing themselves.

"Ty Yutiro is my name," a shy chameleon said, "I'm a Monian chameleon, aged 20. I was a recruit of the CIU."

"Janine Shervy," a cowboy-like brown duck said," I'm a Mobian duck and 29 years old."

"Martinus van der Plas," the human stated, "Dutch nationality and former sergeant of the CIU."

"Mufil Illibo," the old, grumpy frog said, "I'm 44 years old and a baron."

"Leonard Minytox," a mole said, "I'm a Monian mole and 18 years of age."

"Bob Sreve," a fox said," Monian and friends with that greedy jackal and the fat hippo. I'm 18 years old."

"John Snirp," the jackal said, " I'm 18 years old and as Bob said, friends with him and the hippo."

"I guess I'm the last then," the hippo said," Adrian Soor... also 18 years old. Can't deny what my friends have been saying."

Silence again. Only to be broken by Adrian again.  
>"So... what now? I suppose we won't be going to sit here until we die of starvation.<p>

"Survive?" Ty said.

"And fight back," Maxx stated, "If it were up to me at least."

"Fight back? Are you crazy?" was Mufil's immediate and furious reaction.

"Sometimes," Maxx sarcastically replied, while leaning against the wall, "So, anyone objections, aside from our whining old baron here."

"HEY! Don't speak about me like that!" Mufil furiously replied.

"And what, dear old man, would you use to stop me?" Maxx said calmly, glaring from the corner of his eyes at the frog.

"I'm a baron. I'll report you! All of you!" he said, thinking he got them.

Everyone blinked for a few seconds. John moved his head to Bob's and whispered:

"Does he really think we care about that?" John said.

"Apparently," Bob replied, "the baron here thinks he has power."

On purpose, the two had been whispering quite loudly and Mufil had gotten even angrier.

"You... you... you'll get to know the consequences!" he said, losing his temper.

"Oh, roll away, Muf..." Adrian replied.

This conversation, and especially the sentences Mufil said, annoyed Xily to the extent where he could no longer keep silent."

"COULD YOU PLEASE BE SILENT!" he yelled. He stepped out of his bed. Mufil looked like he was insulted.

"Excuse me," he said, heavily indignant. He, however, got cut off by Xily again.

"SILENCE!" Xily yelled. That had it's effects. Mufil shut his mouth and looked expectingly at Xily.

"We aren't here to argue silly things. Mufil, you have no authority here. Furthermore., you are a Monian. Reporting Mobians, Humans and Nerbs doesn't make any sense. Furthermore, we are in a time where authority does not really matter. For now, I'll be the leader, unless anyone has objections to that," Xily said. He saw Mufil open his mouth to something and quickly added:

"Excluding Mufil."

Mufil narrowed his eyes, bent a bit towards Xily and said angrily:

"I'm starting to hate you already!"

"So do I in return... your words do not threaten me. Now, let us stop this useless arguing and do something useful."

_Vennettilli, CIU-building_

"Do you think the LP is usable now?" Zimok asked the black hedgehog, while walking through the corridors of the CIU-building.

"Likely," Shadow said, without a real emotion on his face. He was somewhat lost in his memory, "We've been away for 5 hours, so the thing won't overheat for some time."

The sound of their footsteps echoed from wall to wall ending when their sound waves weakened so much that they automatically vanished. They silently walked on and arrived at the LP. Without a word, everyone got in position, whatever that position might be. Shadow started the LP again. The story carried

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><p>Next chapter will carry on where we left in the past...<p> 


End file.
